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Issue no. 9, 2003 Published: Feb 28, 2003
Microsoft puts weight behind DVD format
French legislators vote to ban spam
Linux plays host to Microsoft Office
DNA micro-computer unveiled
Photonic circuits move a step closer
Promise of intelligent networks
New crystals may shape better nanotech
Virtual DNA replicates
Handhelds with peephole technology
Napster set to return

Microsoft puts weight behind DVD format
Microsoft is taking a more active role in developing one of the formats in the heated DVD rewritable debate. The DVD+RW Alliance announced this week that Microsoft had joined its ranks, adding that the company will also have a seat on its policy-setting team with representatives from Dell Computer, Hewlett-Packard, Mitsubishi Chemical/Verbatim, Philips, Ricoh, Sony, Thomson and Yamaha. The DVD+RW Alliance is a group of companies that promotes and develops the DVD+RW format. The rival DVD Forum, which includes Apple Computer, Hitachi, NEC, Pioneer, Samsung and Sharp, advocates the DVD-RAM, DVD-R and DVD-RW formats. The two sides have been competing against one another to push their formats to dominate the market.
ZDNet / CNET Feb 25, 2003	back to top

French legislators vote to ban spam
France's National Assembly on Monday voted in favour of banning unsolicited e-mail sales messages, known as spam. The draft bill would ban 'direct marketing, notably advertising, via electronic messages' to individuals who had not given consent. The national commission on data processing and freedoms would be given powers to deal with complaints over spamming. Direct electronic marketing without prior consent would be allowed in certain circumstances where the parties involved were properly registered so as not to penalise e-business between companies. The law now goes up to the upper house for its approval.
Nando Times / AFP Feb 26, 2003	back to top

Linux plays host to Microsoft Office
New software from CodeWeavers will allow Linux servers to host Microsoft Office applications, which can then be accessed through a web browser. CodeWeavers, which sells Windows-emulation software for the Linux platform, has launched a server version of its CrossOver Office that runs with Tarantella's Enterprise 3 server software. The combination allows administrators to set up a Linux server running applications such as Word and Outlook, which can be made accessible to large numbers of Linux or Unix users without needing any special client software. Other solutions exist for letting Linux clients run Microsoft Office from a server. But those systems require that the server run Windows, which incurs license fees for each client, unlike Linux. CodeWeavers' software is based on Wine, which creates a Windows compatibility layer on top of Linux and Unix operating systems.
ZDNet Feb 25, 2003	back to top

DNA micro-computer unveiled
Israeli scientists at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot have unveiled a new tiny device which could lead to powerful computers driven by DNA. The molecular computer is a so-called automaton. Given an input string comprised of two different states, an automaton uses predetermined rules to arrive at an output value that answers a particular question. For instance, it can determine whether a string containing only a's and b's has an even number of a's, or if all the b's are preceded by a's The device works using molecules of DNA and an enzyme. Two DNA molecules bond together to perform the computational steps. The enzyme known as FokI acts as the computer's hardware by cleaving a piece of the input molecule and releasing the energy stored in the bonds. This heat energy then powers the next computation. A microlitre of solution containing the molecules could hold up to three trillion DNA computers. Together they would have the capacity to perform 66 billion operations per second.
Scientific American Feb 25, 2003	back to top

Photonic circuits move a step closer
The use of light rather than electrons to carry information is of increasing importance in high-speed communication. A major challenge in 'photonics' is to combine components that can manipulate light with traditional chips. There has been much interest in on-chip resonators in the last decade but the Q factor - the figure of merit for a resonant system - has been limited to about ten thousand. Now researchers at the California Institute of Technology have made toroid-shaped microcavities on silicon wafers that have Q factors of over a hundred million. The cavity confines light in a 'whispering gallery' mode in which it orbits around the edge of the cavity at precise resonant frequencies as a result of total internal reflection. These devices could be used in a wide range of applications, such as optical sensors and microchip lasers. As standard processing techniques have been used to make the microresonators, they can be produced in large quantities.
PhysicsWeb Feb 26, 2003	back to top

Promise of intelligent networks
Computer scientists at Intel are developing wireless networking technologies that can automatically work out the best route for data as demand changes or devices join and leave the system. The researchers believe such mesh networking systems will be needed as the numbers of devices that can communicate wirelessly proliferate. The mesh networking protocols will be of tremendous use in homes or workplaces of the future which would have many different devices all of which can swap data via radio. The advantage of mesh networks is that they do not rely on a central hub or access point to relay data between all the devices in that network. The researchers are working on ways to instil wireless devices with the intelligence to work out all the different routes that data can take from one point to another in any network they form. This would help them cope with sudden changes in the bandwidth of some links and re-route data via paths that can handle the data load. In future mesh networks every element, be it a PC, GSM or PDA, could act as a data relay.
BBC News Feb 24, 2003	back to top

New crystals may shape better nanotech
Scientists at Bell Labs have created high-quality crystals that may one day help improve communications networks and nano-devices. The researchers said the technique may have broad implications for material science and nanotechnology. Two years ago the scientists discovered that thousands of calcite crystals are spread throughout the body of the brittlestar, a marine invertebrate, collectively forming a curious kind of eye for the animal. Most lenses today are built by carefully grinding down a piece of glass. But the brittlestar deposits successive layers of calcite onto an organic template with intricate patterns to form crystalline lenses. The scientists studied biomineralisation principles to develop a new approach that let them fabricate single crystals of calcite that have patterns which are approximately one-tenth the diameter of a human hair.
ZDNet / CNET Feb 21, 2003	back to top

Virtual DNA replicates
Artificial life researchers from the Canadian National Research Council and the University of Waterloo are examining the self-replication process that underpins evolution using a computer simulation of self- replicating strings of symbols that work as a simplified sort of DNA. The simulation consists of T-shaped virtual objects that exist in a two-dimensional virtual soup and are affected by several forces that affect interactions among the particles, allowing them to make and break bonds with each other. The objects are like DNA's codons, sequences of three nucleotides in a string of genetic code. The virtual objects assemble into patterns similar to the way codons make up strands of DNA or RNA. The work promises to provide a better understanding of life's workings. It also lays the groundwork for inexpensive and flexible manufacturing processes that borrow from life's vast experience, including the possibility of growing machines in vats of chemicals.
Technology Review / Technology Research News Feb 26, 2003	back to top

Handhelds with peephole technology
Although a keyhole is quite small, putting your eye close to it lets you see a significant portion of a room. Being able to move the keyhole around would widen the view. A researcher at the University of California at Berkeley has rigged up a device that turns the small screen of a handheld computer into a movable keyhole. Rather than pressing scroll buttons to get to a position in a document, a user simply moves the handheld computer. To navigate to the lower left corner of an on-screen map, a user would move the computer in and to the left. The illusion goes both ways, allowing input into the larger virtual space as well. The spatially-aware-display is aimed at generally improving the mechanics of using PDAs. The idea is to decouple the size of a computer from the size of the information space a person has to work with. The concept can also be applied to mobile phones or to expert interfaces as a way to make many layers of information easily accessible.
Technology Research News Feb 26, 2003	back to top

Napster set to return
Napster song-swapping service will be relaunched as a legal service before the end of the year, its new corporate parent Roxio said. The company is currently in discussions with the five largest record labels to license their music. Roxio plans to offer services that charge a fee for each individual song as well as subscription services to download songs for a monthly fee. Roxio is not the first company to try to make a legitimate business out of Napster. Bertelsmann shocked the industry in October 2000 when it said it would invest in Napster. But Napster ran out of money before it could figure out a way to charge customers for downloads. In September, the bankruptcy court blocked Bertelsmann's bid to buy the Napster assets. Roxio managed to buy most assets, but it did not assume any of the company's pending liabilities.
CNN / Reuters Feb 25, 2003	back to top